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Anyone receive the exogear battery case?
- Thread starter KoukiFC3S
- Start date
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UPDATED with Size Info
Yes, I'm very excited to say I received it this morning, and it's charging as we speak (so to speak).
I'm REALLY liking the look and feel on my iphone. For a 1500 mah battery it's amazingly svelte, and while I can't swear that it's smaller in total size than my Mophie Juice Pack Air on the 3gs, I can say that it really SEEMS smaller and thinner. Amazing, especially since the Juice Pack Air had only 1200 mah vs. the 1500 for this exogear. So far, everything about the product says very high quality.
One very nice surprise (I had not seen mentioned before) is that it has an AUTO power off. If this works as advertised it's a VERY big win, and something I've never seen on a battery case before. I'd been using the juice pack air on the 3gs, and I always wasted a LOT of reserve power by forgetting to check and power off the juice pack after the iphone had fully recharged.
I'll provide updates as I get more experience in using it for actually charging the phone, and we'll see if my initial impressions of quality hold up.
UPDATE
I've measured the dimensions of the Exolife with my iphone in it. It's 5/8" thick and 2 7/16 wide. That's an eighth of inch thinner and narrower than the Juice Pack air is with 3GS. No wonder it seems so trim.
Also the auto power off has been working like a charm as has every thing else so far.
UPDATE 2
See my full review, after two days of use, down below in this thread.
Pete
Yes, I'm very excited to say I received it this morning, and it's charging as we speak (so to speak).
I'm REALLY liking the look and feel on my iphone. For a 1500 mah battery it's amazingly svelte, and while I can't swear that it's smaller in total size than my Mophie Juice Pack Air on the 3gs, I can say that it really SEEMS smaller and thinner. Amazing, especially since the Juice Pack Air had only 1200 mah vs. the 1500 for this exogear. So far, everything about the product says very high quality.
One very nice surprise (I had not seen mentioned before) is that it has an AUTO power off. If this works as advertised it's a VERY big win, and something I've never seen on a battery case before. I'd been using the juice pack air on the 3gs, and I always wasted a LOT of reserve power by forgetting to check and power off the juice pack after the iphone had fully recharged.
I'll provide updates as I get more experience in using it for actually charging the phone, and we'll see if my initial impressions of quality hold up.
UPDATE
I've measured the dimensions of the Exolife with my iphone in it. It's 5/8" thick and 2 7/16 wide. That's an eighth of inch thinner and narrower than the Juice Pack air is with 3GS. No wonder it seems so trim.
Also the auto power off has been working like a charm as has every thing else so far.
UPDATE 2
See my full review, after two days of use, down below in this thread.
Pete
For those interested in a battery case, is anyone interested in the mili power spring 4?
At first I was going to get the Exo, but then saw the case from Mili. Its slightly less at 1200 mah but looks more stylish than the Exo. Release date has been pushed from 8/3 to 8/20. Very interested in hearing what others think of these two cases. Would love to see some real shots of the Exo for those that got it. Too bad Mohpie hasn't even mentioned anything for the ip4.
At first I was going to get the Exo, but then saw the case from Mili. Its slightly less at 1200 mah but looks more stylish than the Exo. Release date has been pushed from 8/3 to 8/20. Very interested in hearing what others think of these two cases. Would love to see some real shots of the Exo for those that got it. Too bad Mohpie hasn't even mentioned anything for the ip4.
The product has a two piece design. One piece is an almost clear, semi rigid bumper (shaped something like apple's bumper), which you see in the drawings, and which snaps onto the other piece, which is a combination of the back portion and the docking portion. It's all very, very slick, and provides excellent protection.
And yes I got an extra bumper. One has a slight gray tint, and the other, a very slight blue tint. Both very attractive.
I ordered the Mili as well. So far, I think this exogear is very stylish indeed. IMO it's the best looking case (battery or no) that I've seen on the iphone 4. I kid you not. The bumpers have an excellent look, which shows the attractive antenna design and somehow enhances it.
Mophie did say on their web site (at one point) that they'll have a new exciting battery case for the iphone 4, with some important surprise features. But they've got no dates and I don't think they're worth waiting for.
I was on the verge of getting the Exo however, I'm just not crazy about the polycarbonate clear bumper, but I'm very interested in knowing about the material of the rest of the case. The good thing about the Mili is that I can go to a store and see it in person before buying. Although $80 at 1200mah vs. $90 at 1500 mah, the Exo is clearly a better value.
The material on the back of the case (and the small area on the front by the dock) is visually indistinguishable IMO from the back of a black 3GS. Glossy and very attractive.
Note that I've updated my earlier post with some more info, including the fact that this case is 1/8th inch thinner and narrower than the juice pack air.
Pete
Here's my update on the Exogear battery. In 4 words: I Effing Love it.
Battery Life.
I have SO much more battery life than on any iphone / battery-case combo I've used before. (With the exception of the ridiculously large TruePower IV). I've tried MANY battery cases made for the 3GS. And this one works amazingly well in comparison. One reason is its 1500 mAh. Another reason is its Auto PowerOff.
If you fully charge another battery case (such as a mophie) and you leave its power button on, but do not put it onto the iphone or connect it to a power source, you'll find it will be dead in less than 12 hours (my experience was much, much less). That means that battery cases WASTE a LARGE portion of their available power just running their electronics. Thus much LESS is left and available to charge the iphone. That's the benefit of the power off button on the mophie and some others. BUT with the mophie I'd turn it on when the iphone needed some charging, put in in my pocket and forget to turn if OFF, while it sat in my pocket. This exogear ALWAYS shuts off automatically within a couple of minutes of the iphone reaching full charge, so you're NEVER wasting ANY exogear battery life on running electronics when you don't need to be.
In the two days I've used this with my iphone I've experienced what a big difference that makes. It's huge. The first day I used this was a day of very heavy usage, lots of VERY long phone calls and web browsing etc. I turned on the exogear a few times during the day. At the end of the day my iphone was back to 100% and the exogear was at 50%. Incredible
Look and Feel
IMO the product is absolutely beautiful and amazingly small, light and thin. I think if I used this for a month very few people would ever notice that I had anything more than just a very attractive iphone 4 case. Period. The industrial design is very clever, and from most viewing angles you just can't see ANY extra thickness (which is amazingly thin anyway). I thought the juice pack air was amazingly thin, and this is so much more so.
See this excellent video of the Exogear and you''ll get a great feel for what it looks like, but you won't realize how trim it is until you see it in person and hold it.
Pete
Battery Life.
I have SO much more battery life than on any iphone / battery-case combo I've used before. (With the exception of the ridiculously large TruePower IV). I've tried MANY battery cases made for the 3GS. And this one works amazingly well in comparison. One reason is its 1500 mAh. Another reason is its Auto PowerOff.
If you fully charge another battery case (such as a mophie) and you leave its power button on, but do not put it onto the iphone or connect it to a power source, you'll find it will be dead in less than 12 hours (my experience was much, much less). That means that battery cases WASTE a LARGE portion of their available power just running their electronics. Thus much LESS is left and available to charge the iphone. That's the benefit of the power off button on the mophie and some others. BUT with the mophie I'd turn it on when the iphone needed some charging, put in in my pocket and forget to turn if OFF, while it sat in my pocket. This exogear ALWAYS shuts off automatically within a couple of minutes of the iphone reaching full charge, so you're NEVER wasting ANY exogear battery life on running electronics when you don't need to be.
In the two days I've used this with my iphone I've experienced what a big difference that makes. It's huge. The first day I used this was a day of very heavy usage, lots of VERY long phone calls and web browsing etc. I turned on the exogear a few times during the day. At the end of the day my iphone was back to 100% and the exogear was at 50%. Incredible
Look and Feel
IMO the product is absolutely beautiful and amazingly small, light and thin. I think if I used this for a month very few people would ever notice that I had anything more than just a very attractive iphone 4 case. Period. The industrial design is very clever, and from most viewing angles you just can't see ANY extra thickness (which is amazingly thin anyway). I thought the juice pack air was amazingly thin, and this is so much more so.
See this excellent video of the Exogear and you''ll get a great feel for what it looks like, but you won't realize how trim it is until you see it in person and hold it.
Pete
^ Edit: Thanks for the kind words! 
Here is an overview and unboxing video.
Iv'e received 4 units. Tested 2 and I'm very disappointed to report that when charging the iPhone, the bottom of the Exolife gets too hot to touch.
Anyone want to confirm they have a similar issue please?
Here is an overview and unboxing video.Iv'e received 4 units. Tested 2 and I'm very disappointed to report that when charging the iPhone, the bottom of the Exolife gets too hot to touch.
Anyone want to confirm they have a similar issue please?
My case got hot on the bottom just once. That was when I let a friend use it to charge his iphone which had gotten down to the absolutely won't turn on, totally dead state. I've never had a battery that was able to restore an iphone from such a condition. I've always had to use wall power to get a phone out of such a state, and I was amazed that the exogear got him running in about two minutes. It took about 6 minutes to get him to 10%.
The bottom, near the LED, (edit, I first wrote LCD) was quite hot to the touch but not so hot that it would burn me. I'm guessing that when the phone is in that condition, since other batteries could not bring it back, that it requires a higher level of charging. Thus explaining the extra heat. With my own phone, since I never let it get down that low, it never seemed even warm when charging.
I perceive the extra heat, in the condition I experienced, to be a minor trade off, given that no other battery I've tried even worked under those conditions.
Is your experience different? i.e. Did your battery heat up only when charging an iphone that was very low on battery life?
Pete
I'm really concerned about this high heat, it could damage the iPhone. And if your iPhone needs a full charge from the charger then it would be very hot to handle and use while it's charging. Not to mention the risk that's involved. A battery that gets hot like this isn't normal.
In my experience only one small spot would be uncomfortable to touch (and only when charging the iphone from a low charge), and it wouldn't bother me when generally handling the phone. Also, it was hot only for a short time, and I'm not that worried about it damaging the phone.
Perhaps your phone got hotter and for longer?
When you say that it's not normal for a battery to be this hot, I say true, but also true that it's not normal for a battery to work at ALL under the conditions where I saw such heat.
Pete
Perhaps your phone got hotter and for longer?
When you say that it's not normal for a battery to be this hot, I say true, but also true that it's not normal for a battery to work at ALL under the conditions where I saw such heat.
Pete
Yes. But this may be because you have a very low charge on the exolife. Charge it for a full hour without the iPhone inside and try to see if this happens.
thats not my video but i'm thinking of buying an exogear. i have morphie juice air for my 3g and even with 1% battery (the juice or the phone) it never flickr on off like that.
Well yes this should not happen. Clearly there are many issues with this case and Exogear should fix them asap. I do not recommend you guys purchase this case right now!
Update: Iv'e been testing two units for two days now and I just found out the one unit gets super hot when charging and does after a while begin acting weird like in the video even with a 50% charge.
I'm recharging the other unit right now to see if it too behaves like this.